Safety-pin.



PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906.

O. W. ENGEL.

SAFETY PIN.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, 1905.

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F WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT omen SAFETY-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 12906.

Application filed June 7, 1905. Serial No. 264,083.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, "CHARLES W. ENGEL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Pins, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in safety-pins; and the primary object of the invention is to construct a safety-pin in which means is provided for positively preventing the withdrawal of the pin member when any undue strain is imposed upon the same, and has for its further object the provision of meansifor distributing the strain brought to bear against the pin in such a manner that under all ordinary use the pin will be prevented from becoming distorted or damaged.

My invention resides in the specific construction of the pin member in connection with the specific construction of the receiving-pocket for said pin member and the bracing and uniting of the receiving-pocket to the form of the safety-pin, whereby a strong and rigid construction is provided.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, showing a preferable embodiment of the invention, and wherein like numerals of reference will indicate like parts throughout the several views, in which Figure 1 is an enlarged plan view of a safety pin constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of the pin member, taken on the line a a of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line b b of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a part of the pin member, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same.

Safety-pins constructed in accordance with my invention are made from a single piece of wire, and instead of employing a metal cap at one end to form a receiving-pocket for the pointed end of the pin I form this receivingpocket from the same piece of wire.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 indicates the pin member, pointed at its free end 2 in the usual manner, and adjacent to the point of said end 2 it is provided on opposite sides with recesses or indentations 3, the specific purpose of which will more presently appear. The piece of wire from which the pin is formed is coiled intermediate the ends to form the usual spring 4, the doubling of thewire forming the pin member 1, and "the usual opposing leg or arm 5, the strand or section of the wire from which the leg or arm 5 is formed being of considerably greater length thanthe strand or section from which the in member '1 is formed, and theextremity o the strand from which the leg or arm '5 is formed is bent to a substantially D shape, as indicated at 6, forming the guards for the point of the pin. 'The said strand or section from which the leg or arm 5 and the guard 6 are formed is bent downwardly at substantially right angles :to the pin member 1 and the leg or arm '5, as indicated at 7, and is then bent upwardly, as indicated at 7 the said parts 7 and 7 lying in the same plane and in abutting engagement and form one wall of the pocket. The wire is then carried downwardly on a plane with the part 7, but sufficiently spaced away therefrom, as at 8, to form the receiving-pocket 9, the free end of the member 8 ofthe wire being wrapped around the arm or leg 5, as indicated at 10. The space 11 between the lower extremity of part 7 and the end 10 of the wire forms the passage-way or entrance for the barbed or spear-shaped end of the pin into the pocket 9, this pocket being of a width at its upper edge or end substantially the same as the thickness of the pin taken through the recessed part. 3 thereof, and consequently the shoulders formed by means of the recesses or indentations 3 engage with the opposite edges of the pocket, and the pin memher. 1 is securely held within the pocket and prevented from being Withdrawn by a pull on said pin member 1.

I desire to call particular attention to the fact that not only is the pinmember locked within the pocket by the spear-shaped head,

but when any undue strain is brought to bear against the pinmember the connecting arm or leg 8 of the wire acts as a brace, since it is connected to the pocket and also to the arm or leg 5, and the pocket is thereby securely braced against the pull on the pin member, such pull being delivered as much or almost as much on the leg or arm 5 as it is upon the pin member 1. I also desire to call attention to the fact that by reason of the part 7, heretofore described, being carried over in advance of the part 7 and by reason of the fact that the pin is engaged with the part 7 and with part Swhen strain is brought to bear on the pin member, the pull thereof against the parts 7 and 8 will bring the strain onto the part 7, and consequently onto the guard 6, thus relieving the parts 7' and 8 of solely bearing this strain alone. In other words, if the parts 7 and 8 were in advance of the part 7that is, if they were toward the spring end 4 of the pin instead of being located between the part 7 and the guard 6then a strain on the pin member 1 would be delivered on the parts 7 and 8 alone, tending to draw these parts out of position; but with the construction as shown and described this is impossible, the parts 7 and 8 being held against being pulled out of position by the part 7 of the guard being passed over around the same and forming a substantial brace therefor The pin member is readily disengaged from the pocket by simply forcing the same toward the arm or leg 5 in the ordinary manner, the notched portion thereof riding down between the parts 7 and 8 until it clears the lower end of part 7, when the pin can readily be forced outwardly through entrance 11. The outer curved end or part of the frame 6 is in a plane with the end of the pin member 1 when the latter is in its engaged or locked position, and

consequently acts as a guard for the pointed end of said pin.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A safety-pin formed from a single piece of wire bent to form a spring at one end and a substantial D-shaped guard at the other end, the said strand of Wire being doubled to form a pin member, and an opposing arm or leg member, the guard being formed integral with said leg or arm member with a part thereof bent downwardly and then inwardly and upwardly at right angles to the pin member, and being crossed over said pin member and then bent downwardly and wrapped around the leg or arm member, the said downwardly-bent part of said guard thus lying in advance of the upwardly-bent part and acting-as a brace for the same against strain through the pin member.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES W. 'ENGEL.

Witnesses:

A. M. WILSON, E. E. POTTER. 

